My problem is that the same file prints differently in Photoshop, Illustrator, InD and Acrobat. I've synchronized the color settings in Bridge. Nevertheless they produce different color when I print. Illustrator & InD are pale, and Acrobat is too dark. Photoshop alone produces true color.

I'm currently testing with an Illustrator vector graphic. When I save it as an Illustrator PDF and print from Acrobat, colors are too dark. When I save a PSD copy of the image and then place it in the Illustrator file, next to the vector version, they both print with matching pale colors. When I print the same PSD from Photoshop, colors are bright and accurate. So the color difference is related to the application (and printer), not the file.

Let me emphasize that all apps use the same synchronized color settings. I've turned the printer's color management off, and color handling is always by the CS app. The "printer profile" menu is set to the correct paper type. Rendering intent, perceptual. Still each program produces different color.

Any ideas? Thanks for your suggestions.
-Neil

PS. This is with a silver iMac, OSX 10.5.3, CS3, and an Epson R1900 with the newest driver.

PPS. Yes, I have calibrated my monitor, but this isn't a screen/print comparison. Photoshop prints colors true to my monitor and to what the color value actually is.

I wonder if turning "Color Management" > ON would improve consistency any. Sounds like "Use Black Point Compensation" may be unselected, thereby giving you s washed out looking Illustrator file. Also, "Relative Colorimetric" is a better choice out of Illustrator/InDesign for a rendering intent than "Perceptual" ( good for Photoshop bitmaps ). You may want to get a third party printer profiling application or use the one you used for your monitor. I find that using something like an xRite spectrometer and a good profiling application will get you more accurate color, especially when matched up with a good RIP like ColorBurst ( probably not available for the R1900 ) or similar.

In addition to the above, I've also noticed that printing from Illustrator CS3 results in lower resolution line art, as if the screen res image is printing, rather than Illustrator outputting at the resolution of the printer. The same Illustrator file, opened in Photoshop, will print at whatever resolution it is rastered to on import.
The second problem is that the Epson driver doesn't appear to pay attention to the settings, coating the page with gloss optimizer and using photo black ink even when paper has explicitly been set to plain paper with gloss optimizer turned off.
On my Epson 4000 and 9880, I've used the Colorburst RIP. Does anyone know of a similar software RIP for the R1900?
Also Epson Utility appears to not work at all if the R1900 is either on a shared computer, or plugged into the USB Port of an AiPort base station or Time Capsule? Are there plans to add this functionality? It's a drag to not be able to see the ink level remaining from any computer other than the one the printer is connected to, or not from any computer if the printer is connected to the TimeCapsule basestation.

I am also having these issues with color printing differently between PS and Illustrator (only looks good from PS) and printing jaggedy lines in Illustrator, so am interested to hear what the solutions are. I'm totally new to this so am on a big learning curve right now! I'm using os 10.5.5, cs3 and an r1900 with new driver, also.

I have not tested Illustrator but in Indesign with a RGB printflow the monitor profile is being introduce into the printflow. One solution in IDCS3 is to choose Print as Bitmap. This was the way IDCS2 printed. I don't know if this applies to IL or not.

The other problem that keeps cropping is that many Abode products force the printer driver to use Colorsync and will not allow you to turn CM off in the driver, resulting in double profiling. One work around for this is to go into the ColorSync Utility and set the same paper profile you are choosing in the application for one of the media settings (the one you choose in the driver) in the Colorsync Utility. If Adobe is going to force you to double profile at least you can make it use the same profile.

This bug is in LR2 and now can be found in PSCS4. What is most frustrating about this is that LR1.4.1 and PSCS3 worked correctly. PSCS3 forced the driver to turn off color management but now PSCS4 forces the driver to colorsync.